South Korea expects more provocations mid-October - the 10th and the 18th. I believe these are important dates to North Korea. In any case, the current macho/braggadocio situation has no diplomatic offramp yet: face must be saved on both sides.

A Twitter account suggests Warmbier tried to hang himself, causing the brain damage, etc. No citations. I wonder if this is supported by the evidence. It seems at least a plausible narrative. But I won't believe it until a medical team makes the claim and releases a detailed report.

US State Bureau of East Asia and Pacific affairs reiterates that the US is willing and committed to defending itself and allies from any attack.

A report exists claiming that North Korea claims that many North Koreans volunteered for the army because they were angry at the US. Uh-huh. I think at work we describe that state as "voluntold", not "volunteered". But it's a sign that NK is doing something with a reserve force, I think. But I wouldn't per se trust that, as it's a propaganda claim by a famously hyperbolic state.

Also, US Sec of State Tillerson is meeting with the Vatican's foreign minister in an effort to resolve issues with NK. Curious. I wonder if the SoS is leaning on the Vatican as a staffed diplomatic service, because the US State Dept is inadequately staffed.

I don't have time this morning to do a full sweep of the twitter hashtags, but activity seems higher than it did yesterday. Some level of pro-war bots. Some level of pro-war blogging by conservatives. (are these bots? unsure), This means I should probably dig up a tweet-reading library and get some heuristics going.

Same for US media, no time to do the full sweep. No chance on MSNBC. CNN doesn't mention it. Fox does, and is starting to beat the pro war drum, partially based on the false reports relating to Warmbier. This is your regular reminder that Fox is not a reliable news source: they are an ideological outlet, not a news outlet.

Summary: China is apparently getting real. US conservatives will be getting all fired up to go after the "terrorist state of North Korea".

Next update this evening, as little is likely to happen overnight on the Korean Peninsula.